Diversity is a hallmark of American society; American families are no exception. U.S. families are becoming increasingly diverse, including:
- culturally and ethnically diverse families
- gay and lesbian families
- multi-generational families
- grandparent led families
- single parent families
- step families
- families experiencing homelessness
Each of these family forms possess unique strengths and challenges. I am a strong believer in the importance of supporting families in all of their diverse forms. However, Barbara Whitehead in her article Dan Quayle Was Right poses an important questions.
"How do we begin to reconcile our long-standing belief in equality and diversity with the impressive body of evidence that suggests that not all family structures produce equal outcomes for children?"
What are your thoughts and opinions?
It indeed seems counter intuitive for a government to actively support family formats that less consistently provide the outcomes for children we want. There is a fine line here between tolerating ones right to choose and discriminating against them when you formulate policy that encourages one type of family.
ReplyDeleteI think more emphasis on policies that promote healthy family processes is important. Too many social programs, as your text author has noted, focus on children, or teens, or elderly persons, and neglect an explicit family component in their goals or provisions.
ReplyDeleteHowever, with the economic crisis we currently face, employers are less likely to give employees more "family time" to work on family process issues. This is not an easy issue to resolve.